Please open your Bibles to the Prophecy of the Revelation of Jesus
Christ; Rev 2:12 (2X). As you very well know, this is the third letter
of the Lord Jesus Christ to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The previous two
churches were the church at Ephesus and the church at Smyrna. And here is the:

Letter to
the Church at Pergamos (Rev 2:12-17, 1John 5:19)

The church at Pergamos was not in grave danger of losing her candlestick,
like the church at Ephesus. Some cleansing took place in the church at Pergamos
when they were persecuted in the past, whereas the church at Smyrna was being
persecuted in the present, and the church at Ephesus was not yet persecuted.
But at present the church at Pergamos is bearing with evil men, and therefore this
is the church that is growing lax in discipline. That is why the title of this
sermon is, “A Church Lacking in
Discipline” (2X). The Lord Jesus Christ says to the whole church
at Pergamos:

Re 2:12 ¶And to
the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he
which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Re 2:13I know thy
works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seatis:
and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even
in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was
slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Re 2:14But I have a
few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of
Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Re 2:15So hast thou
also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Re 2:16Repent;
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them
with the sword of my mouth.

Re 2:17He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna,
and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Although in verse 12 this letter was addressed to the angel of the church in Pergamos,
we can see from verse 17 that it really was addressed to all the churches in
the world, because the Word of God was written to all people so that all may
hear what God’s message is unto salvation. The name Pergamos means “exalted,
or lofty, or elevated”. Pergamos was not a small city. Pergamos
was the largest city of the kingdom of Mysia, and it became the capital city of
the Roman province of Asia Minor. This was a city bustling with industry, and
commerce, and science, and art. In Pergamos parchment was invented, to compete
with Egypt’s jealous ban on the export of papyrus. In Pergamos was a library
that rivaled the library of Alexandria, in Egypt. From history we know
that this was a city where particularly three forms of idolatry were
practiced. First of all, there in Pergamos was a temple dedicated to Aesculapius,
which was a god represented by a serpent. But a serpent is also the symbol of
the Devil. Relate this to the words of the Lord Jesus when He said in verse 13,
“Where Satan’s seat is”, and “Where Satan dwelleth”. The special
power attributed to this god of the snake was that he could save people from
disease and sicknesses of all kinds. Therefore this god was also known as “Soter”,
which means “Savior”. Undoubtedly, the symbol of two snakes that
physicians use today is derived from this god Aesculapius. Can you see the striking
parallel between the people of Pergamos worshipping a serpent as their “Savior”,
and near the end time the people of the world worshipping Antichrist as the
Savior of men? Of course, the Antichrist is Satan. Secondly, the first
temple of the Caesar-cult was erected at Pergamos in 29 BC. This was a
temple dedicated to Rome and to Augustus. Pergamos became the center of emperor
worship. And later more shrines were dedicated to other emperors of Rome, and
all people were expected to offer incense to the image of the emperor, and say,
“Caesar is lord”. You can see that this easily led to the persecution of
Christians who refused to do so? Look again at the striking similarity with the
church near the end of time, where the Antichrist, Satan, is worshipped as the
savior of men, and Caesar, a man, is worshipped as lord of the world. Thirdly,
Pergamos was also the city where the great altar of Zeus could be found. As you
know, Zeus was the chief of the Greek gods. In addition, many other pagan
altars to pagan gods could be found in Pergamos. And so, we can see that this
city is called the throne of Satan, and the very dwelling-place of the Devil.
This city was dominated by Satan, the prince of darkness, and by his power to
oppose the church which Christ had built in this city. In general we can
say that the world has always been under the dominion of the Devil. Toward the
end of the first century God wrote by the hand of the Apostle John, in 1John
5:19, “the whole world lieth in wickedness”. But it is also true
that the evidence of Satan’s power is in some places more greater than at other
places. For example, in large cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles sin
comes to a higher and bolder form of development than in smaller towns. This is
why the Lord Jesus said,

#1.I Know Thy Works
(Rev 2:13, 19:13, 18:4)

Re 2:13I know thy works,
and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seatis: and
thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in
those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain
among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Undoubtedly, during the first three centuries AD Rome, with all
its emperors, and with evil citizens who with great amusement watched as
Christians were fed to the lions and as Christians were burnt at the stake,
could also be called the place where Satan dwells. Then when we move about 1200
years forward to the time of the Reformation, we have again a period in
history where hundreds ofthousands of
Christians were burnt at the stake. There we can recognize the Roman Catholic
Church, with its worship of saints and its worship of popes like the emperors
of Rome were worshipped, and with its Inquisition, and indulgences, and
crusades, could also be designated as the place where Satan dwells. But all
those persecutions had only the effect of making the true Gospel grow more and
more. And when finally the Reformation was going full bore, it became evident
that the little church of Protestantism dwelled where Satan had his abode. And
today, again the little church of the true Gospel is under severe attack.
But today we should not make the mistake of continuing to point at the Church
of Rome as the culprit. It would make us blind to the tremendous movements of
Modernism and Humanism, and Man-worship that is sweeping through the protestant
churches these days. They are in churches that should know the truth, because
their Pastors have Bibles, and they have studied their Bibles. But now we
recognize that they have shifted their focus away from Christ, and from the
free grace of God through Christ crucified, and instead they have fixed their
gaze on Man-worship, and on “do it yourself” plans of salvation.
Today respectable churches and denominations are practicing “church growth”
as a science, using methods and techniques that were developed in the
business world, and they are finding the most efficient ways of gathering more
people into their churches through shows, or through the Charismatic
movement, or through the Purpose Driven Church, or by handing out Gnostic
Bibles, and many other gimmicks. Now we realize that Satan is no longer
persecuting the church from the outside, but Satan has infiltrated the church
and is bringing his satanic gospels from within the churches. Those
churches are not guided by faithful undershepherds, but are led by hirelings,
who were trained in seminaries where Christ is humanized, and man is deified,
where the theory of evolution and the worship of humanity is preached, and
where the blood of Christ is trampled under foot. Many protestant churches have
transformed this way into places where Satan’s seat is. And what does
the Lord Jesus Christ have to say about all this?

The Lord Jesus says to each of the little churches that have not given in
to the pressures of modern times, “I know thy
works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and
thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith”. The commendation of the Lord is our highest reward. We
do not try to please men, but to do those things that are pleasing in His
sight. That little church at Pergamos was faithful, because the Lord Jesus
said, “thou holdest fast My Name”, and He said, “thou hast not denied
My Faith”. “My Name and My Faith”: Are these two different
things? No! These two things cannot be separated. The faith of the
Gospel has Christ for its center. The faith of the Gospel is the system
of beliefs that we hold, and that all taken together is the Good News of Christ
Crucified for our sins, and that we have come to believe this by a free gift of
the grace of God. The Name of Christ indicates His Person, His character,
His work, and His teachings, and all that taken together is the Good News of
Christ Crucified for our sins, and that we have come to believe this by a free
gift of the grace of God. And so, the faith of the Gospel and the
Name of Christ are the same thing. We read often in the Bible about the
Name of Christ as if there was a magical ring to the name Jesus. But that is
not the meaning of it. The Name of Christ means far more than just the sounding
of the name Jesus. According to Rev 19:13, “His Name is called The
Word of God”. And so, to believe in His Name means that we have come to
believe all the doctrines in the Word of God, and that is really the faith of
the Gospel. The great doctrines of the Gospel are all intimately connected in
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We never hold the faith of Christ, except as we
hold Jesus Christ Himself as the object and the center of that faith. Election
is God’s choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Redemption
is God purchasing His elect out of the hands of His own Law by the crucifixion
of Christ. Regeneration is God giving dead sinners life in Christ, and
Christ living in us. Forgiveness is God pardoning our sins through the
blood of Christ. Justification is God clothing us with and imputing to
us the righteousness of Christ. Sanctification is God shaping us more
and more like Christ. Resurrection is God raising us up by the power of
Christ. Glorification is God conforming us to the image of Christ, to
which end we were predestined in the eternal purpose of God. Christ is the
author and finisher of our faith. Christ is the alpha and the omega of the
faith of the Gospel. When we hold fast the Name of Christ we have not denied
the faith.

But why did the church not migrate out
of that wicked city, where the Devil had his throne and dwelling-place? Would
that not have been a smart move? The answer is: NO! If an individual
Christian would be in an apostate church where he is subjected to all kinds of
false teaching, then we are commanded to leave that congregation. God says in Rev
18:4, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues”. But to a church as a whole God
does not say that. The principal message to a church could be stated like this:

In the
World, Though Not Of the World (Matt 5:14-16, 1Cor 10:13, Rev
2:13)

Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew
5:14 (2X). We must be in the
world, but we must not be of the
world. This is not a verse in the Bible, but this is what the Bible says to
those who seek to remove themselves out of their church environment. God does
not approve of people moving themselves out of the world and into a monastery,
or moving the church out of sin city and moving her into a quite neighborhood
out there in the country. We are called to be lights in this world of
sin, to bring the light of the Gospel to those who have never heard such a
thing. God says in

Matt 5:14Ye are the
light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Matt 5:15-16Neither
do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it
giveth light unto all that are in the house.Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven.

This is not a
gentle advice. This is a command from God. That we are surrounded by sin
and might be tempted into sin is an integral part of God’s plan for us. We run
the risk of contamination by the world and our language will reveal the
influence of the world, and our driving habits may become affected by the
driving habits of the world, and so on. But what the Lord Jesus said to Paul He
said also to us, “My grace is sufficient for you”. We must experience
the power of the grace of God in our lives. God says in 1Cor 10:13, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape”. We must not be afraid to
do battle with the Satan. We must run away from sin, but that is the victory of
doing battle with the Devil.

Please turn again to Rev 2:13 (2X). And therefore, the
church of Pergamos is not commanded to leave its wicked and devilish
environment, but rather to be faithful to the Name of her King and Savior. And
this they did. They confessed the Name of Jesus Christ publicly. They kept the
faith. For the Lord Jesus testified, “thou holdest
fast my name, and hast not denied my faith”.
As a result, in the past one of the members of the church at Pergamos named
Antipas was killed for his testimony of Jesus. Today such killings do
not occur any more. Instead Satan has moved into the churches and
congregations, and therefore the church is in much greater danger of losing the
battle against Satan, because physical persecution has ceased. So far we
have seen that the church at Pergamos was almost an ideal church. It was a
church that was flourishing spiritually, because it was a church in the midst
of tribulation, in a world that was hostile to everything that bears the name
of Christ, but the church as a whole remained faithful to the faith of the
Gospel. And yet, the Lord Jesus said,

Re 2:14But I have a
few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine
of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Re 2:15So hast thou
also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

The Lord refers to the days of Antipas as belonging to the past.
Evidently, the first wave of fury had passed. Now it was a time of
relief for the church at Pergamos. And history shows that this is a dangerous
time for the church. Now the people in the church were not on their toes
concerning their doctrines. They became lax in the discipline of their own
members, while there were many occasions to call for more strictness in the
conduct of the members. Discipline is the Christ-ordained guard in the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the sentinel, standing watch by
the purity of doctrine according to the Word of God and by the holiness of the
sacraments, as well as by the walk of the believers. Where the sentinel is not
on duty, the church is exposed to the evil of false doctrines, as well as to
the degenerating influence of the world upon the life of the individual members
of the church. In Pergamos that sentinel was fast asleep. There were those who
held the doctrine of Balaam and those who held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
There were evil men in that church at Pergamos; men who did not belong in the
church of Jesus Christ; and they were allowed in the midst of that
congregation. It seems inconceivable that the church was not aware of their
existence in the midst of them. But the leaders of that church were lax in
disciplining these men. We do not know why. Perhaps the excuse was given
that “The church must save and not reject”. That is an excuse we also
hear in our time. They say, “Who knows if these evil men will not come
to repentance. They must continue to hear the Gospel preached in our church”.
And so, men who hold a false doctrine are tolerated, and the church which does
not exercise discipline over them is excused. They say, “True faith is after
all not a matter of doctrine, but of the heart, and it would be cruel
and indicative of a “holier than thou” spirit of intolerance if such men
would be excommunicated from the church of Christ. We have all heard such
flimsy arguments before. Today most churches will not practice
discipline, because that is unpopular in the eyes of most. But the Lord
Jesus will not have it so. We see that clearly here in this letter to the
church at Pergamos.

What exactly was that doctrine of Balaam? Balaam was a sorcerer in
the land of Mesopotamia, who had the reputation of being very successful in
placing people under an evil curse. Of course, Balaam was an agent of the
Devil. You read about this man in the scroll of Numbers, chapters 22-24.
Balaam was asked by the king of Moab, by the name of Balak, to come to the
shores of the Jordan River to curse the children of Israel. Balaam was warned
by God that it was against the will of God that he would curse the children of
Israel. But Balaam was attracted by the huge sums of money from Balak, and
because he persisted in asking God for permission, God permitted him to go to
the land of Moab, provided he spoke only the words that God the Holy Spirit
would place in his mouth. As a result we read in Num 23-24 some of the
most beautiful blessings on Israel spoken by this agent of the Devil. Balaam
could not curse whom Jehovah would bless. Both Balaam and Balak did not achieve
what they set out to do. What now does this debased instrument of Satan do? He
gave the king some practical advice how he may shrewdly bring destruction upon
the people of God. Through his counsel the men of Israel began to commit
fornication with the daughters of Moab and with the daughters of Midian, and
the children of Israel began to bring sacrifices to the idols of Moab. The
advice of Balaam, or the doctrine of Balaam, was to erase the distinctive
character of the children of Israel by mingling them with the people of
Moab and of Midian. The result will be the wrath of God upon the children of
Israel. How well this sorcerer understood that our God is a jealous God.
His wrath would not be on Moab, but on Israel, because they call themselves by
His Name. And “if they bear the Name of the Lord their God in vain, then the
Lord will not hold them guiltless that bear His Name in vain” (Ex 20:7).
This was the doctrine of Balaam that these people held in the church of
Pergamos. They were antinomians. Anti = against, and Nomos = the law.
Antinomians. They taught the people that it mattered not how the
Christian lives here on earth since Christ fulfilled the Law, and the old Adam
was doomed for destruction anyway. And so, they would feast with the heathen
and eat of their sacrifices. Please turn in your Bibles to 2Cor 6:14
(2X). They were a class of people that threatened by their doctrine and
lifestyle to erase the distinction between the church and the world in
Pergamos. Just like the counsel of Balaam was a shrewd calculation to wipe out
the difference between Israelites and Moabites, so in like manner the church at
Pergamos was in grave danger of losing their distinctive character as a church
of Christ. The Word of God sounds the warning in 2Cor 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness?And what concord
hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for
ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them,
and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. God
commands us to be separate from the world. We must be in the world, but not of
the world. Please turn again to Rev 2:15 (2X). And now we can
recognize the work of the Devil in our days. He is bent on erasing the
distinction between the church and the world. Have we not heard that it matters
not what form of doctrine we hold, as long as we love Jesus? We will all be
brothers in Christ. Is the Devil not very busy socializing and secularizing
the church of Christ? And on the other hand, is not the church in general
growing more and more lax in practicing disciplinary action? And is not
the church weaker every year in upholding the truth of the Word of God?
And so we see that the church of Pergamos is really portraying a remnant of the
church of today. I say a remnant, because the majority of the church has
already fallen away and can no longer be considered the church of Christ.
Addressing this remnant the Lord Jesus Christ warns us to put in place:

The
Sentinel of Discipline (Rev 2:15-16, Matt 24:36, Deut
18:21-22)

You know what a sentinel is. It is a lone soldier standing guard. For a
church the sentinel is the council of Pastor and Elders and Deacons who must be
on their guard for new teachings that are introduced into the church. The Lord
Jesus said to the church at Pergamos in verse 15,

Rev 2:15-16, So hast thou also
them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent;
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them
with the sword of my mouth.

What was meant here by the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? Verse 15
starts with the word “So”, and the Greek word that has been translated “So”
means “in this manner”, or “on this wise”, and usually refers to
what has preceded. Therefore, this is also the doctrine that the Nicolaitans
hold. Although the Nicolaitans were a different group of people, this doctrine:
“that it mattered not how the Christian lives here on earth since Christ
fulfilled the Law, and the old Adam was doomed for destruction anyway, and so
they would feast with the heathen and eat of their sacrifices”, this was
one of the basic doctrines of the Nicolaitans also. Furthermore, we know from
history that in the third century AD a sect of the Nicolaitans was found among
the Gnostics. And thus the Nicolaitans had also Gnostic tendencies. It is no
surprise then that Christ hates their doctrine. And then Christ says, “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will
fight against them with the sword of my mouth”. “Quickly” does not mean that Christ would wait until the Last Day to
punish these false teachers. Christ says to the church: “Repent”. These
words are not primarily intended for the false teachers, but for the church,
and for the Pastor of the church. The church as a whole is guilty of being lax
in discipline. The church as a whole is called to exercise discipline and expel
those who hold the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And
if they do not quickly repent, and remove these evil members, then the Lord
will come and make war with them. It means that the Lord will visit the church
with temporal judgment in order to chastise them for their laxity in
discipline, and to cut out the evil men from their midst. The church at
Pergamos was not threatened with removal of their candlestick, like in the case
of the church at Ephesus. The question is: Should we in this
church practice discipline to members who teach a false doctrine? The answer
is: absolutely yes, of course. But we had no opportunity to excommunicate those
who held other doctrines. Those who should have been removed for teaching a
false doctrine have already removed themselves out of our church. They have
taken the words of Christ, that “no man knoweth the day or the hour” (Matt
24:36) in a legalistic sense, and they hold the doctrine that they can know
the month and the year of the return of Christ.But they have already departed out of this church, because their
cult-leader has commanded them to leave any organization that is called
“church”. We have already seen that they are following a false teaching, for
God gave us Deut 18:21-22, and God said explicitly, “Thou shalt not
be afraid of him”. Therefore, to our church and to the church at Pergamos
the Lord Jesus has some words of comfort. He said in verse 14, “he that hath an
ear”, referring to all those who are able to hear the spiritual message of this
letter to the church at Pergamos, and He promises them:

#3.The Hidden Manna
(Rev 2:17, John 6:32-33, 1Cor 2:14)

Re 2:17He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna,
and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

“To him that overcometh” means to every one who has become saved.
No one who has become saved can lose his or her salvation. And thus, all true
believers are “overcomers”. Al true believers have been promised to eat
of the hidden manna. Now we know that the manna refers to the “bread from
heaven”. The Lord Jesus said in John 6:32-33, “Then
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world.” Christ is
the true “Bread from Heaven”. The manna that the children of Israel ate for 40
years in the wilderness was only a shadow of Christ. But Christ is the
substance. All the grace the believers in the church at Pergamos need to be
delivered from the power of sin and death, and to appear finally before the
Father in heaven, is only in Christ Jesus their Lord. He is the hidden Manna.
We can easily see that Christ is the Bread of Life, because He said so, but
why hidden? Christ is the Word of God, and He is also in the Word of God,
the Bible. But to see Christ in the Bible requires that your eyes and your ears
be opened by God the Holy Spirit. But the natural man without the Spirit of God
cannot understand what the Bible says, according to 1Cor 2:14. To the
natural man Christ remains hidden. But to the faithful in Pergamos, and to all
the faithful here in this church, the Lord promises a full supply of the hidden
Manna, which will strengthen us in our battle against Satan, and which will
finally lead us to the blessed state of perfection on the Last Day when Christ
returns to take us home. But because of our mystical union with Christ as His
Bride, who walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks, we shall be fed
forever with the hidden Manna, and our souls shall be satisfied for all
eternity with Him. But what about the White Stone? And what about the New
Name?

A White
Stone and a New Name (Rev 2:17, Acts 26:10)

The stone that is mentioned here is a smooth stone, a small
pebble, worn smooth as by water. The Greek word for this stone is totally
different from almost every other stone found in the Bible. The only other
place where we find this word is in Acts 26:10, where the Apostle Paul
told to governor Festus and king Agrippa about his earlier life when he
persecuted the Christians. We read in Acts 26:10, “Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints
did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and
when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them”. Literally he said, “I gave
my vote against them”, and the word “vote” is the same word as that
little stone. What actually took place was that the judges cast their vote with
a little white stone or a black stone. A white stone meant “Not guilty”.
A black stone meant “Guilty”. The black stone then was a symbol of guilt
and condemnation, and the white stone was a symbol of innocence and justification.
By promising the faithful in Pergamos a white stone, Christ assures them of
their final justification on the Last Day. They need not be alarmed by the
two-edged sword, because Christ shall present them to the Father without
blemish, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, as a glorious church,
shining forth in the perfection of their new being. But then the New Name;
what is the “new name written, which no man
knoweth saving he that receiveth it”? Perhaps you remember the name of God. Well, God
does not have a name to distinguish Him from other gods, because there are no
other gods. Every name of God describes who God is, or what He does, or what
His character is, and so on. It is in this sense that God will give us a
new name in the life hereafter, because we will be genuinely sons of God. What
name will each of us receive? That peculiar character of each person that
causes him to differ from his fellow human being is his name. The difference between
one individual and another shall not be erased in the NH&NE. Just the
opposite. There shall be an infinitely rich variety of individuals. Yes, each
of us shall have their own personality in heaven. And individual character
shall be even emphasized to perfection. That is why the Lord says that only he
who receives the name shall know it. Is this not wonderful? God is
giving us here a glimpse into the affairs of our life in eternity. God
shall be glorified in the new humanity, in which the image of God shall shine
forth in all its divine fullness and beauty, radiating as it were, from the
Lord Jesus Christ into all the members of His body, and reaching its full
realization and manifestation not in each individual saint, but rather in the
harmony of the whole. Each particular child of God shall then manifest his own
peculiar shade of God’s image. And together with the new creation they shall
all reveal in one grand and most beautiful harmony the wonders of God’s image.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith. AMEN.